Isolation; the experiences of clergy

In her address to the AGM Marie Keenan made reference to the work and research carried out by Alan Hilliard; “It is devastating to the morale of priests for them to feel isolated from one another, to feel isolated from the self, not understood by superiors and left alone before criticism and complaint. We only have to reference Alan Hilliard’s work on the experiences of clergy and my own with senior clergy following the publication of the Murphy Report to know what isolation is like when standing alone before criticism and complaint. I remember Dermot O’Mahony at this time. Alan’s study articulate this point when following the publication of the Murphy report the first item on the agenda of some deanery meetings was the clustering of parishes!”
Alan has kindly made his work available to the ACP website for the benefit of those who may wish to follow up on Marie Keenan’s presentation in Athlone.
Hilliard, A.: Dublin clergy and the Murphy report. Studies: an Irish Quarterly Review, Vol.102, no. 408, 2014, p. 447-455.
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http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=libart
 
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